Urchin 6.6 Released – Much Deeper integration with AdWords and a lot more…

Google has officially released version 6.6 of Urchin Software.This is a significant upgrade, with lots of new features, particularly if you manage PPC campaigns.

Below is a list of some of the new features added/upgraded in Urchin 6.6

Deeper integration with Google AdWords

Budget Alerts: Users are warned if the budget for an AdWords campaign isin imminent danger of being exhausted. This information is providedautomatically from the AdWords system.

Keyword Generation Tool: This allows you to generate pertinent keywordsand to see projected performance/budget information. It also allowsyou to add newly generated keywords and delete existing keywords fromAdWords campaigns.

Direct links to the AdWords system: this feature allow you to navigatedirectly from Urchin to the appropriate screen in your AdWords account,bypassing the login process (assuming you have entered your AW account infointo Urchin previously)

The Urchin Tag Manager (or, “semi auto-tagging”): this feature inserts adynamic keyword insertion tag {keyword} in ad destination URLs. This featuresimplifies the URL tagging process and allows you to easily import AdWordscost data into Urchin. See this AdWords helparticle for more information.

AdWords Optimizer: this allows you to optimize your campaign in Urchin andautomatically propagate changes into AdWords.

Copy Campaign Tool: this allows you to copy keyword campaigns into yourAdWords account from other campaigns or other ad networks such as YahooSearch Marketing.

Advertiser View and Advertisement Optimization reporting section: Both An Advertiser View profile template and an Advertisement Optimization sectionhave been added to provide additional options for advertisement-relatedreports and to support the above mentioned AdWords-related features.

New reports

“Time On Site” report: this report shows the length of time visitors spent on the site in question. It is located under Content Optimization -> Content Performance -> Engagement Metrics.

“Performance Comparison” report: this report allows you to compareCampaign, Keyword and Content performance across sources/mediums (e.g.Google|CPC vs Yahoo|organic). It is located in Advertisement Optimization ->Marketing Campaign Results.

“CPC Structure” reports: this set of reports is found under Advertisement Optimization. CPC Structure analyzes your campaigns in a handy drilldown tree structure.

Data API

The Data Export API allows you to retrieve Urchin reporting data via SOAP1.x and REST protocols. Read more about the API in the help centerarticle.

External Authentication (LDAP)

In addition to Urchin-specific authentication (now called ‘Native’),Urchin 6.6 supports external authentication that can be configured on a ‘peruser’ basis. External authentication modules for LDAP and MSAD are providedwith Urchin 6.6, while custom modules can be integrated by modifying theconfiguration files.

New Urchin “Home” Page, or the Rollup Report

The Urchin “home” page (the one you get just after logging in) has beenmodified to provide metrics for all the profiles that are visible to thelogged-in user. Profile metrics are provided for the current day (today)and the most recent week, month and year.

Automated CPC Data Import from Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM)

Urchin 6.6 allows you to import CPC data from Yahoo Search Marketing inaddition to AdWords. YSM campaigns may be copied into an AdWords accountvia the newly introduced Copy Campaign tool.

Incorrect treatment of the profile’s local-time configuration during logprocessing was resulting in the reporting data being shifted by hours in themonths. This was happening for the months when day light saving starts orends for the selected profile’s timezone. This has been fixed.

Restricted usage under ‘Demo’ License

Urchin 6.6 introduces certain demo license restrictions. Profiles and logsources are limited to 5 each. There is no limit on filters, cpc sources,users, accounts or groups.

Upgrading

Urchin 6.6 introduces a new report section. After upgrading from earlierversions, these reports may not show any data. We recommend reprocessingexisting profiles to populate the new reports.

As I said at the beginning, LOTS of great new features! If you are looking for a reasonably priced solution for hosting your own analytics or data warehousing, Urchin may be the solution you’re looking for. You can download a demo here.